BJP gears up for polls next year: Amit Shah meets UP leaders

New Delhi :BJP Chief Amit Shah today held deliberations with the party’s Uttar Pradesh leaders as he seeks to firm up the electoral strategy for the politically crucial state, which goes to the polls early next year.

The party is yet to announce its state unit president as it grapples with the challenge of identifying a suitable candidate for the job.

Shah deliberated on several issues in his meeting with the core group of state leaders, including UP party chief Laxmikant Bajpai, whose term in the post had ended in mid-December, and Om Prakash Mathur, party sources said.

Shah is meeting party leaders from states where assembly polls are due next year. He had met Punjab BJP leaders yesterday and will meet those from Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh in the coming days.

UP holds key to BJP’s fortune as its stupendous performance in 2014 Lok Sabha election paved the way for it to form its first majority government at the Centre.

SP and BSP have recovered ground after being swept aside by the ‘Modi wave’ in 2014, making the assembly polls a tough battle.